Eyebrows were raised when Chicago guaranteed Crawford $36 million (and extended him through his 35th birthday). While he silenced critics during the recent Stanley Cup run, Crawford has never appeared in more than 57 regular season games and spent last year in a timeshare with Ray Emery, who had 17 wins to Crawford’s 19.

The Bickell deal (four years, $16 million) was another eyebrow-raiser, even though the power forward was in line for a raise on the $541,667 he made annually on his last deal. The 27-year-old, who averages 34 points a season and 12:39 TOI per game, cashed in on a successful playoff run and a relatively weak free agent market.

But whatever the case with Chicago’s current financial landscape, Wirtz remains confident it’ll have no bearing on keeping his core players in town — unlike in 2010, when the cap-strapped ‘Hawks won the Cup but then dealt away Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and Kris Versteeg, among others.

“We’re not going to do what we did in 2010: Wake up the next day and say you have to trade or move half your team,” Wirtz explained. “That’s not going to happen.

“That was something we did once and it’s something we’re not going to do again.”

It is great to have a leadership committed to growing a program and winning! Thank you to all of those of you who are working to keep the Blackhawks at the top! It is a great time to be a Blackhawks fan! Tim Smith